While having the Vegan with a Vengance in my clutches I decided to try the carrot soup in it. Hubby looked at me like I was nuts when I told him the 3 bags of organic carrots were for the one soup! This was pretty easy to make and that was wonderful. Unfortunately my blender kicked the bucket on me while I was puree half of the soup so it’s more like 1/3 got pureed. I never realized how much I used my blender until it’s gone. But this was pretty much consumed by me, Punkyroo and Hubby had a very little bit of it so I was left to eat it all by myself, which wasn’t bad it was just alot of soup! Next time I’m freezing half of it for later. This soup was really creamy and flavorful, the coconut milk was a nice flavor boost and carrots when cooked get even sweeter so to have a natural sweetened dish was excellent!

If you’ve read alot of my recipes you’ll notice I’m a person that really likes the everything together dish. It’s just nice not having to create a choas of mess in the kitchen (well more so) with pots, bowls and utensils. So when I can limit it down when given the choice that OH YEAH I’ll take it. Well I love the idea of soups and I like the taste of them but I’ve never really tried to tackle it that much until recently. Potatoe Asparagus, minestone, lentil, chili and soon to be a carrot soup. Especially being vegan now and trying to add more beans and the soup is the best way I’ve found to get my family to eat them.

With it finally getting cool out down here in the panhandle state….67*F, plus trying to find some warm hearty easy food to make on vacation, I whiped up some Lentil soup. So here is last night’s dinner (I misread the 1package of lentils for 1 cup so it will be thicker than this, but it was still yummy). I altered this recipe from Taste Of Home Healthy Cooking magazine.

Lentil Soup

6 large carrots, chopped

1 small bunch of celery with tops cut off, and chopped (about 4 cups)

1 large onion, chopped

2 tbs olive oil

1 tbs minced fresh ginger

2 tsp curry powder

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp ground cumin

5 cups water

4 cups vegetable broth

1 package (16oz) dry lentils

3 small russet potatoes

1 tsp pepper

2 tbs minced fresh parsley(it called for cilantro but I am growing parsley so I used that instead)

In a large pot, saute the carrots, celery and onion in oil until tender. Add the ginger, curry garlic and cumin, cook and stir for about a minute.

Add the water, broth, lentils, potatoes and pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir in the parsley and serve.

I gave Punkyroo some sesame crackers to dunk in the soup while letting it cool off.

I went to the library the other day to get some new books to read to Punkyroo and I figured I’d give this new library a look to see if they had any vegan cook books and what do you know…. VEGAN WITH A VENGEANCE was there!! woo woo. My friend offered for me to borrow her copy but I forgot it so this was awesome! There vegetarian selection was even smaller than the other library we were going to (a whole 6 books!) and the only vegan book was this book with so many raves. So I was flipping through when I got it home “ohh that sounds good, oh that too, yumm, I have to make that, oh Punkyroo would love that…” you get my drift. So I came across this soup..Potato Asparagus Soup! I just made this today for lunch and it was soooooo good I will 100% make this again and PUnkyroo LOVED it, she loved the chunks of asparagus too. She ate all her chunks and asked for more. She ended up eating 2 of her bowls of this soup. I served it with a few sesame crackers.

Place potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water. cover the pot and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until tender. Add the asparagus, boil for 3 minutes, drian and set aside.

Rinse out the pot, then in the same pot saute the onion in the olive oil for 5-7 minutes; add the garlic, salt and black pepper,; and saute 2 more minutes. Add the broth and bay leaves, boil for 10 minutes, discard the bay leaves. add the potatoes and saparagus, heat through, then puree three-quarters of the soup in a blender or food processor. Add the lemon juice and stir. Reheat if necessary. Serve garnished with fresh dill.

I found this recipe from Taste of Home Healthy Cooking magazine but I changed some things. But this is oh my, so gooood! Plus it gets the thumbs up from Hubby and Punkyroo (she actually ate 2 bowls of it!). Even with it being hot and muggy here I don’t care this hot creamy chili is just too good. I wish I have a better picture for this but I had a meeting to go to so I couldn’t sit and eat with the family and by the time I got back I inhaled the chili and while I was putting it away I remembered.

Creamy Chili

1 cup bulgur

1 cup boiling water

1 large onion, chopped

1 medium green pepper, chopped

29oz vegetable broth

1 can (16oz) kidney beans, rinsed and drained – I used black beans this time because I was out of kidneys, it was still good but I prefer the kidney beans.

1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can (8oz) tomato sauce

1/2 cup water

1 tbs chili powder

1/4 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp ground red pepper

1/2 cup soy milk

Place bulgur in a small bowl; stir in boiling water. cover and let stand for 30 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed.

In a large pot saute the onion and green pepper over medium heat with a little bit of oil until slightly tender. Stir in the broth, beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, seasonings and soy milk.

Drain bulgur; stir into chili and bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour. * top with some vegan shredded cheese, you can also serve with a side of tortilla chips. YUMM!